User blog:Harold Burned-Mane/Heir to the Empire - Part I
Heir to the Empire, the story of the forgotten heirs to the Reman Empire and their road to prominence roughly 300 years before the birth of Tiber Septim in the 2nd Era. Parts: I, II. Introduction The last flames of the dying 2nd Empire of Tamriel have been extinguished. Tamriel is fractured. While the Alliance War has come to an end. The Aldmeri Dominion and the Ebonheart Pact have split up and the Daggerfall Covenant has shrunk down only to High Rock. The Empire of Cyrodiil, ruled by the Tharns, has been destroyed. The Tharns have only maintained control of Nibenay, with the rest of the province being split between rival Kings. One of these many nobles is Count Noster II of the Colovian Highlands. A journeyman mage, someone that believes more in his own greatness than those of the gods and someone that will do whatever is necessary to accomplish his goals. Noster also holds a very important claim, a claim of descendant from the Reman Emperors of old. The counts of the Colovian Highlands have, for centuries, claimed descent from Emperor Reman II through the first count of the highlands: Count Amiel I. Amiel I was rumored to have been the bastard son of Emperor Reman II, the reason why he was granted the county lands in the first place. When Emperor Reman III, the half-brother of Amiel I, was assassinated the Count expected that he'd be named the new Emperor. However, the Akaviri Potentate refused his claim of parentage, since it was never confirmed officially by the late Emperor Reman II. The Potentate ruled the Empire in the absence of a true heir to the Emperor and the counts of the Colovian Highlands were cheated from their birthright. The descendants of Amiel I have never forgotten about this injustice. Centuries later, Count Noster II was determined to right that wrong. Cyrodiil was weak, fractured and ripe for conquest. The ambitious count was going to claim what was rightfully his. It would require him to do it by force, but the Warrior Sign-born colovian believed that he had what it took to accomplish such a monumental task. The first step of his quest for the throne was securing the kingdom of Chorrol. Securing the Dynasty With his sights set on Chorrol and the surrounding lands of Glademist and Ash, Count Noster II ordered his Marshal to begin training the men for the upcoming war. The Count's Marshal, Baron Riel, managed to accomplish his task within a few weeks. The armies of the county would soon be ready to march out. While his men prepared for the conquest, Noster had to ensure that there would be heirs to carry on his legacy after he was gone. The Count already had a young son, Graccus, but he his wife had died during the Alliance War, a victim of Mannimarco's sick genocide to appease his master: Molag Bal. One young son was hardly a secure line, so to ensure the survival of his bloodline he'd need to remarry. He had his Chancellor search for a worth bride for the future Emperor of Cyrodiil, a woman worth of the ambitious count with legendary blood. Sometime later, the Chancellor came with great news. He had found the woman. The youngest daughter of Abnur Tharn, the current monarch of Nibenay and patriarch of the powerful Tharn Dynasty. The Tharns had grown to be the most influential of the nibeneese dynasties following their marriages with the Vaseron Dynasty, the Reachmen Emperors that ruled the crumbling Empire after the death of the Potentates. After the Alliance War, however, and the mysterious disappearance of Empress Clivia Tharn following the defeat of Molag Bal, the dynasty had been left with only the Heartlands and the Nibenay Basin at their control. Despite this, they were still the most powerful nation in the province. Securing that marriage would only raise the prestige of the count and further his ambitious goals. The Chancellor, after receiving the approval of Count Noster, managed to secure the hand of the Princess Faustina Tharn, younger sister of Empress Clivia. He escorted the princess to Rayles, where she was wed to Noster. The New Wife Things in Rayles hadn't changed a much after the marriage...at first. The Princess Faustina was an easy person to deal with. She was vain, caring more about her looks than anything else, but she was also slothful, content and patient. She and Count Noster II mostly left each other alone, though she didn't appear to be too happy with her new conditions in the man's castle. They weren't as luxurious as the Tharn Estate that she had been living before moving in with her new husband. Noster didn't mind this, she wasn't bothering him. He maintained his attention on the war preparations and ignored his wife save for his matrimonial duties at night. This distance, however, was making Faustina more and more unhappy. She eventually snapped and confronted her husband. She said that if he was going to be this absent then he'd need to give her more luxuries. She threatened to stop sharing his bed, or worse...tell her father of her unhappiness. Not wanting to upset the powerful Abnur Tharn, Count Noster used some of his war funds to buy Faustina a new set of ruby earrings to make her happy. She was delighted, as they matched her eyes beautifully. The mood in the castle began to get better after that. The mood eventually got even better as news from the Court Physician reached the Count's ears. Princess Faustina was pregnant. Noster was beyond himself, soon his dynasty would be secure and his plans for his bloodline would be one step closer to reality. With the pregnancy, Faustina's mood improved greatly. As it progressed her servants had to do more and more for her and she need only laze around and be taken care of, perfect for someone as slothful as her. Her handmaidens and the Court Physician rarely left her side in the coming months, while her husband and his courtiers were focused on preparing the troops to conquer Chorrol. Time seemed to fly and eventually nine months had passed and the Princess gave birth to a health young girl. Noster was a bit disappointed that it wasn't another son, but a girl would serve the same purpose. She was the back-up heir in case something befell his son Graccus. Building a Strategy While his wife was busy with her pregnancy, Count Noster had his nose buried in books. He was studying all kinds of strategies and techniques that he could use against his enemies. One night, he found a particular book. A dark tome that he hadn't seen since his days in the Mages' Guild, a forbidden book on necromancy that he had taken from the guild and hidden away in his castle's library. He had meant to study the book back then, but the Planemeld Crisis put and end to that idea. Now that he had the book in his hands, Noster was tempted to study it and unlock the secrets of necromancy to use it against his enemies...but he decided against it. Cyrodiil was still recovering from the Alliance War and the memory of the King of Worms' atrocities were still fresh in their memory. If Count Noster began to use undead in his army, the people would turn against him. Instead, Noster decided to study old history books about his ancestors, the Reman Dynasty. He focused on the books about Emperor Reman I's conquest of Tamriel, they held much information on the strategies used by the Emperor during the wars with the other provinces. Noster was sure that those strategies could be used against his current enemies. After studying the campaigns of Reman Cyrodiil, Count Noster decided to hold war games with his military commanders in his castle in Rayles to plan for the coming war with his neighbors. He invited his barons and courtiers. Count Noster II took charge of part of the Colovian troops during the war games, intent on using all that he had learned from his studies, with Baron Riel leading the remainder. Baron Tertius took charge of the enemy troops. Tertius was the more powerful vassal, with his barony being twice the size of Riel's. It was his troops that would serve as the other half of the Colovian forces, with Riel's meager levees only bolstering them. When the war game started, Baron Tertius quickly moved his forces to the high ground, trying to get the immediate strategic advantage for the battle. Baron Riel asked the Count what his strategy would be. Noster decided to bring all his forces to the hills to contest them against Tertius' forces. He was sure that it was what Emperor Reman would do, from what he had read about his conquests. Noster was sure that whomever controlled the high ground would win the match. Riel moved all their pieces to the hill as Noster commanded. Noster looked up at Tertius, expecting the Baron to look nervous...however, he looked calm as day. Tertius grinned and said that the Count had fallen for his trap. In his rush to contest the hill against Tertius' forces, both Noster and Riel had failed to count how many pieces that the Baron had actually sent up the hill. It wasn't all his pieces, a few had been hidden away and circled around the Colovian forces. Noster cursed as Baron Tertius revealed his hidden troops and got them in position to flank the Count's forces. Baron Riel told his liege to quickly deal with the hidden troops before they had a chance to surround them. Noster nodded and decided to break off part of his forces to deal with the hidden troops. That proved to be another mistake, as Baron Tertius's main force managed to break through the defensive line of the Count's army when he accidentally weakened it by sending men to deal with the hidden troops. Tertius revealed that the hidden troops were merely a distraction and his real goal had been breaking through the main line. Noster cursed as his forces took heavy losses and were overwhelmed by the Baron's men. In the end, he had to concede victory to Baron Tertius. Following the war games, Count Noster decided to leave Baron Tertius in charge of his army for the coming war. They met regularly and drew battle plans for all their neighbors, all they needed now was an opportunity to show itself so they could strike a decisive blow. ---- This series is a spiritual successor to my Tales of Baslod blog series from 2016, that I had to prematurely end due to my savegame having been corrupted following an update. Leave your thoughts on the story below and if you'd like I can add custom characters created by you guys to the story. If you want to suggest a custom character just leave a message below or ask on the Discord and I will ask you the necessary information for creating the custom character. The custom characters can be vassals or courtiers of Noster. The available positions currently are: *Chancellor (Should be a character good in diplomacy) *Marshal (Should be a character good in martial) *Steward (Should be a character good in stewardship) *Magister (Should be a character good in learning) *Spymaster (Should be a character good in intrigue) Category:Blog posts Category:Elder Kings Category:Stories